1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to multimedia content redirection. More particularly, the present invention relates to a multimedia content redirection method for reproducing media content at a new sink node employing enhanced media reproduction performance by redirecting a current media content being reproduced to the new sink node when the sink node, such as an audio device or a media player, capable of reproducing multimedia contents, is discovered in a network while a source node such as mobile terminal is reproducing the media content in an ad-hoc network.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, as there is an increasing demand for multimedia, there are services provided for downloading MP3 audio files and listening to them, or receiving and displaying DMB videos at a user's mobile terminal.
However, regarding the mobile terminal carried by the user, since the mobile terminal is small enough to be held in the user's hand, the space for viewing the multimedia, such as moving pictures or broadcast videos, is limited.
Accordingly, it is desirable to reproduce the multimedia content using a multimedia reproduction system which is present near the user's mobile terminal. However, since format or streaming protocol of the contents supported by the multimedia reproduction system is fixed, it is not easy to ensure the immediate compatibility between the mobile terminal and the multimedia player which construct an ad-hoc network. In addition, even when the compatibility is provided between the mobile terminal and the multimedia player, it requires a complicated configuration or user's action. Consequently, applications utilizing other multimedia reproduction systems do not have wide acceptance by users. There are simple applications for connecting a mobile phone to a car audio device through an ear phone jack, or connecting a mobile phone to a digital TV through a data cable. However, since such applications simply take advantage of a speaker or a screen of another device using the existing multimedia player, rather than using another multimedia player in the network, they are disadvantageous since they cannot provide high-level reproduction functions.
Accordingly, there is a need for an improved apparatus and method for redirecting multimedia content.